Symbiosis
by GhettoGorgeousGangstaGirl
Summary: A botched mission gets puts Agent Coulson back on the position of Avengers Liaison and, for the most part, life has returned to normal. For everyone except the newest Stark Tower receptionist, who's life is about to be anything but.
1. Chapter 1

(Super short intro chapter. Some explination in the next one.)

'Hello."

Celia glanced up from what she'd been doing and blinked at the man who had appeared at her desk when she wasn't looking. "Uh-" She glanced down at the schedule in front of her and didn't see any important dates that she should have been aware of. "I-um. Are you-? Uh. Mr. Stark left a few minutes ago."

The man smiled at her, or at least it felt like he did though his expression didn't actually change that much. "I'm not here to see Stark."

Celia's brow rose. She generally assumed that if anyone in a suit entered the building they were here to talk to the big man in charge. 

"Is Mrs Potts in?

"Oh. Actually she's in a meeting. Though she should be back soon. You can take a seat over there if you want." She said, motioning to the waiting area off to the left. This is basically everything her job as the Stark Tower receptionist consisted of. Directing people to one place or another. Something R&amp;D, sometimes to Tony Stark. Usually to the waiting area. Really she was just a buffer. To give Mr Stark some warning when someone was on their way so he could pretend he'd been ready for them, or so he could stop them before they go to close. She'd even given a few 'Don't come to the lobby yet, she's here.' calls when an ex-girlfriend or one night stand come sniffing around.

The man glanced over to the small carpeted area complete with plush chairs, month old magazines (All with articles featuring Tony Stark himself) and a small coffee machine, but didn't seem at all interested in it. Instead he leaned slightly closer to her. "Have you played the starwars edition?"

She blinked up at him and his eyes flicked down to the phone in her lap.

"Oh!" She blushed the flipped the device over, pressing it down into her skirt. Just what she needed. To get caught playing Angry Birds on the job. "Uhm... No...I-"

"It's pretty addictive isn't it?"

"Yeah." She sighed. "It certainly eats away the hours."

"Phil!" They both glanced up to see Pepper Potts rush through the automatic doors of the tower. "Sorry I'm late. The meeting ran long."

"Oh, I wasn't here long, and I had this this lovely young lady to keep me company."

Celia blushed at that. Not because of his comment but because she didn't want Pepper to think she wasn't doing her job, even though she didn't exactly have anything to do right now.

"Oh, good. Are you ready?"

Phil nodded before glancing back at the receptionist. "Don't worry." He said quietly, eyes shining. "Your secrets safe with me." With that he left to join Pepper by the door "What do you think? I'm feeling Italian."


	2. Chapter 2

The next time Phil walked through the doors of Avengers Tower he found the receptionist looking... well, busier then last he saw her. She hung up the phone and sighed before he caught her eye and waved.

"Hi." She sighed. Celia vaguely recognized him but so many people went in and out of those doors that she had trouble keeping track of them. Though she'd always been good at faces so she was pretty sure he'd been through before. "Are you here for... Mrs. Potts. Is she expecting you...?"

Coulson smiled and nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

"Alright, I-..." She blew out and sigh and started pushing papers and other scattered items out of the way.

"If now is a bad time I could wait over there." He offered, gesturing to the waiting area. She seemed obviously frazzled and he didn't want to make her feel rushed or crowded by standing there.

"No. No you're fine." She insisted, "I've just been at this for a while and I'm kind of over it..."

"Anything...I could help with?" He asked, leaning forward on his arms.

She laughed. "Thank you. But I doubt it."

"Try me."

"Well, some of boys in R&amp;D sent down a list a supplies... and I don't know what Mr Stark is working on I can't find them anywhere. I've called all of the usual guys and nothing."

Phil glanced down at her desk and pulled a sticky note free from the stack and found a pen hidden under some papers. "Try this." He scribbled down a number, one of SHIELDS contacts. He was sure Stark likely had the number on file somewhere but that wouldn't help him or her right now. "I'm sure they'll have what your looking for."

She looked at the note then back at him. He nudged the phone closer to her. The quicker she got it done the better she'd feel and he was more then willing to wait.

It was a quick call she listed off the items, how many they'd need and where to send them. Hanging up she grinned and jumped up to hug him over the desk.

He laughed and gave her a pat on the back before she quickly pulled away. "Sorry." She muttered before falling back into her seat. "It's just, you probably just saved me hours on the phone."

"My pleasure to help."

At that moment Pepper walked out of the elevator. Phil waved as she approached. "Hey. You ready?"

Coulson nodded waved to Celia before they turned to leave.

"The new receptionist is seems nice."

"Oh, Celia? She's sweet. Been a god send a few times since we hired her."

"What happened to the other one?"

"Kevin? Got married. Moved to North Carolina."

"Hmm. Good for him. Speaking of which, have you and Happy set a date yet?"

"Not yet." Pepper sighed. "Things have been too busy since with Tony's new project. We're looking at sometime after the Expo. Things tend to slow down after convention season."

That had probably been the most surprising development since his official return to the world of the living. Of course he'd known about Pepper and Happy's relationship but he's been surprised to return and find them engaged. Still he was happy for her.

She'd been the quickest to accept him back into the fold. Some of them had taken his return harder then others. Of course Clint and Natasha hadn't been too phased. They had been more upset at SHIELD For keeping it from them and Clint was more visibly upset the Natasha, but for the most part they weren't surprised that the organization would pull something like that. The Captain was angry but he seemed more fed up with the lies then upset with Phil himself, a feeling the agent could relate to completely. Bruce, he felt, hadn't trusted him or any of them that much to begin with so knowing they'd, for all intents and purposes, lied about his death wasn't helping. Tony was, perhaps, the most distrustful. Phil suspected that Tony thought him to be some kind of LMD or clone designed to spy on an Avengers or something. Which was partially true. Being they're Liaison he did have to report back to Fury but not as frequently or as in depth as Stark might believe. Though he found he was having less trouble with new members who had arrived after the invasion, granted some of those knew Avengers were SHIELD agents so they weren't as surprised by the story. Secrets and surprises, while not normally like his, are fairly commonplace in their line of work.

It had taken him some time to get used to juggling his returned position as the Avengers SHIELD liaison as well and leading his own team plus his other responsibilities but his work with the Avengers didn't take up too much of his time and the continuation of his lunches with with Pepper certainly helped with picking up the old routine again.

Though try as he might to keep his responsibilities it didn't stop Fitz and Simmons or Skye from asking him when they were going to get to meet the Avengers. He'd simply shrug them off but thanked his lucky stars that such an encounter didn't seem to be in the near future. He was not looking forward to having to pull hold them back. Maybe some harnesses would be a worth while investment.


End file.
